E 





Class ___E^_3 I 



Book 



(,i 



SPEECH ' 



REV. DI{. BKLLOWS, 



PRESIDBNT OF THE 



Mnitfir States ^aiiitarn Connnission, 



HADE AT THE 



ACADEMY OF MUSIC, PHILADELPHIA, 
l^esday Evening:, Feb. 24, 1863. 



PHILADELPHIA AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION, 
1107 CHESTNUT STREET. 



1 



S P E 'E C H 



OF THE 



REV. DR. BELLOWS, 



PRESIDENT OP THE 



UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION, 



MADE AT THE 



ACADEMY OF MUSIC, PHILADELPHIA, 

■ i 

Tuesday Evening, Feb. 24, 1863. 



Philadelphia Agency of the United States Sanitary Commission 
1307 Chestnut Street. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

C. SHERMAN, SON & CO, PRINTERS. 

18 63. 






IN EXCHANUfi 
Mr 3 '06 



i 



INTRODUCTION. 



Rev. Dr. Bellows, President of the United States Sanitary 
Commission, addressed a large number of the citizens of Phi- 
ladelphia, at the Academy of Music, Tuesday evening, Feb- 
ruary 24, 1863, in explanation of the operations of that Com- 
mission, over which he so ably presides, a(nd which has earned 
the praise of every loyal man in the Union, and obtained the 
approval of every friend of humanity throughout the world. 

On this occasion, the first discourse delivered in this city 
by Dr. Bellows in reference to the Commission, His Honor, 
Alexander Henry, Mayor of Philadelphia, presided. The 
Mayor introduced Dr. Bellows, in the following remarks : 

Ladies and G-entlemen : "We have assembled this evening 
to listen to the narrative of a scheme of benevolence, that 
in the grandeur of its purpose has rarely been equalled, and 
in the vastness of its sphere has never been surpassed, in the 
world's history. [Applause.] That narrative needs no com- 
mendation to your attentive ear. Its sphere is that of pour- 
ing in oil and wine, to bind up the wounds of those who have 
fallen by the wayside on the gi-eat highway that alone leads 



to our national safety and honor. It will be told to you by 
one whose eloquence is only exceeded by the earnestness, the 
humanity, and the ripe intellect, that have placed him in the 
foremost among the laborers in this great enterprise of mercy 
and of patriotism. I have the pleasure to introduce to you 
the Eev. Dr. Bellows, President of the United States Sani- 
tary Commission. [Applause.] 



SPEECH. 



Mr. Mayor, and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I AM embarrassed in taking my stand in the midst of this 
splendid assemblage, not by any expectations on your part 
that I am to indulge at this time in any flights of eloquence, 
— for this I need not say, you have abundant opportunities of 
hearing from your own citizens, — your eloquent Mayor, and 
your patriotic Governor, to whose honied lips I myself have 
had the pleasure of listening since I came to Philadelphia, 
and from other citizens in this fair city, equally famed I may 
say for its science, literature, and its taste, but I am embar- 
rassed by the greatness of the theme which I here undertake 
to treat, embarrassed even by your sensibilities which I know 
surround my subject. 

I rejoice that I am not called on to inflame, but rather 
to assuage them. I know that all the rhetoric proper to an 
occasion like this, lives and moves in your own hearts ; it is 
manifested in the sympathies of every woman in the land, in 
the feelings of every father who has a son a soldier in the 
front; in the thoughts, emotions, and affections of every 
sister, of every brother, of every mother, and of every patriot 
of either sex in this assembly, and throughout the whole land. 
It is for me, therefore, trusting entirely to that sympathy 
and that sensibility, which already exists in your minds and 



hearts, to confine myself, as far as possible, to a simple 
narrative, designed rather to convey that kind of instruction 
which my own official position enables me to offer you, than 
anything else. 

I am glad that I am here not to advocate any forlorn 
cause, or to seek to invite your confidence in an enterprise 
towards which your affections are already slack or cold. I 
know, on the contrary, that so far as that ministry which I 
have the honor here to represent, — so far as that institution, 
the United States Sanitary Commission, is concerned, — the 
probabilities are that you have all had an exaggerated esti- 
mate of its usefulness rather than the reverse. I am not 
here, therefore, to plead with any particular earnestness, a 
cause towards which you are indifferent. I am simply here for 
the purpose of telling you, with some authority, what it has 
done, and how it does its work ; not how much it has done, but 
how it works a silent return for the contributions to the cause 
which Philadelphia has given. Has she not given $70,000 
already to the general treasury of the cause ? and has she 
not in a thousand other ways, not immediately acting through 
us, but through her own local methods, contributed to the work 
of mercy ? To-day I have been mostly employed in visiting, 
under the kind guidance of a citizen of yours, — one who has 
distinguished himself alike in this service of mercy, and in 
his support of the Sanitary Commission, and more latterly 
by supplying the public with certain views, "■ How a free 
people can conduct a long war," [Applause] — who has done 
as much as any loyal man of the land to encourage and 
strengthen the public heart, — under the kind and skilful 
guidance, I say, of this gentleman, 1 have been this morning 
visiting those scenes of mercy and usefulness which the local 
zeal, industry, and energy of this community have adopted, 



to testify its interest in the cause of the sick and wounded 
soldier, and not only of the sick and wounded soldier, but of 
the tired soldier and the hungry soldier, who, when he reaches 
the city of Philadelphia, finds it a friendly city and a wel- 
come home, and its citizens anxious to heap upon him all 
sorts of luxury, devotion, and gratitude. Those three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand soldiers whom you have fed in your 
Volunteer Refreshment Room, — these and others whom you 
have received on their way back from the wars, and tended 
in your temporary hospitals, — no doubt every man of them 
having the stamp of this city on his heart, — all testify that 
you have done everything in your power, to assure the sol- 
dier of your ardent sympathy and entire and perfect devo- 
tion, I doubt, indeed, whether any city in the country has 
had so great an opportunity as you have had, to testify this 
spirit of gratitude and devotion to the loyal soldier. You 
have been nearer to the seat of war, and more directly in 
contact with the great highway to the army. Every soldier 
almost who has been to the war, at least in the Eastern De- 
partment, has been obliged to cross your threshold. Here 
he meets his first welcome. Your men and women, your 
workingmen and professional men, people of all classes, have 
hastened to give him God speed, — not merely to say to him, 
"Be ye fed," "Be ye warm," — but to fill him and warm 
him, and send him rejoicing on his way. 

The object I have before me more particularly at this 
time, is to explain in some detail the operations of that Com- 
mission over which I have the honor to preside, — an honor 
which I fully appreciate and value, — and I wish here to say 
how small a part belongs to me of the credit of placing this 
Commission in a position of so much usefuljiess ; how nume- 
rous and admirable have been the co-workers assembled about 



8 

this cause ; how fortunate we have been in securing men of 
loyalty, fidelity, and skill, to aid us in this work ; how we 
have not been obliged to put up with eye-servants, but have 
been able to secure the services, again and again, of men who 
have filled the most important offices in civil life, but who at 
the call of duty, took upon themselves the work of this Com- 
mission, than which no work was ever before so blessed in the 
devotion, ability, and skill of those whose sympathies, intel- 
lects, and afi'ections have been contributed to its patriotic and 
philanthropic service. 

When I speak of the Sanitary Commission, therefore, I 
speak of a work that has had the sympathy of hundreds of 
thousands of men and women ; which has been under the 
guidance and direction in a large part of the whole civil medi- 
cal practice in this country ; which has been able to gather 
about it all the leading spirits in every great community, and 
the aid and support of the people of every loyal State in the 
Union, of all its cities and its villages ; which has been ena- 
bled to concentrate as in a burning focus, the afi'ections, the 
understandings, the counsel, and the advice of the loyal and 
devoted people of the land. 

When this war began, the care of our sick and wounded 
soldiers was, of course, in the hands of the Medical Depart- 
ment of the United States Army. That department con- 
sisted at that time of one hundred and fifty excellent sur- 
geons and assistant surgeons, who had been in charge of our 
military establishment of 20,000 men. It was an admirable de- 
partment, strong from the knowledge gained in previous wars, 
during which there had been accumulated valuable statistics. 
But what were one hundred and fifty medical men ? What 
was the medical stafl" of the United States Army, when com- 
pared with the exigencies into which the country was then flung 



9 



when not merely 75,000 men were called out, but 250,000 
more, then 250,000 more, and then 250,000 more, till our army 
was expanded to 800,000 men ? And how was the medical 
staff to be recruited ? Of course, it had to be recruited from 
the civil medical service of the country. Just as the military 
arm had to be recruited from volunteers, generally unskilled 
and untaught in military arts, so the medical department had 
to be recruited from the civil medical service. Now you will 
understand what our difficulties were in a military point of 
view. Those difficulties have not been mainly due to a want 
of professional skill in our generals, or to the military defects 
of the regular army of this country, which in most respects, 
I doubt not, equals any military service on the globe [Ap- 
plause], but to the fact that it has been compelled to be re- 
cruited by a class of men, not lacking courage, patriotism, or 
manly qualities, not unfit to claim the peerage in intelligence, 
zeal, and endurance with any regulars, but because of their 
inevitable unskilfulness in military arts, due to that long- 
continued peace with which our country was blessed. We 
had at once, therefore, to extemporize an enormous army, 
and extemporize the officers in that army. The wonder is 
with me, not that we have not done more, but that we have 
been able to accomplish, in spite of all misgivings and criti- 
cisms, in the period of time in which we have been engaged, 
more than any power on the face of the earth could have ac- 
complished in the same period of time. You must under- 
stand that our medical men were in the precise condition of 
our military men ; unskilled in the arts of military life, and of 
medico-military practice. Now everybody knows that an 
army must be subjected to the discipline of rigid machinery ; 
a state of things upon which we have looked up to this time 
with a kind of jealousy. And now I am almost ready to say. 



10 

in the face of a general reverse of opinion, that our army has 
not been so much lacking in leadership, as it has been lack- 
ing in those details of discipline and soldierly subordination, 
which are necessary for the organizing of a great military 
power in such a manner, that under the lead of a few persons, 
a vast body of men may be hurled as one man and one soul, 
at the bidding of one great leading mind, against the enemy. 
Soldiers are not to be extemporized. They may be called 
out in a day, but it will take a considerable length of time 
before they become soldiers. 

A soldier is a man who has not merely a willingness to 
obey, but a habit of obedience, — one trained and disciplined, 
not by tactics, but by time and experience, in the character 
and qualities of mind that make him in his very blood and 
bones like a machine. 

Now in the Medical Department of the army, this is just as 
essential as in any other department. All the difficulties 
connected with the treatment of the sick and wounded, are 
due to the fact that the Medical Department of the United 
States Army, while it has enjoyed the very best ability of the 
civil medical service from all parts of the country, neverthe- 
less, in a military point of view, was necessarily diluted by 
the addition of 3000 medical men, with great hearts in their 
bosoms, and great determination and devotion to duty, but 
without that particular knowledge of all the regulations and 
details of army life, that render them able first to understand, 
then to carry out the wise and admirable regulations al- 
ready subsisting in the medical service of the United States. 
Can you wonder that under these circumstances, we have had 
a thousand defects to contend with in the administration and 
application of those rich means, which the Government has 
supplied to meet the wants of our sick and wounded men ? 



11 



Can you wonder at the failures and defects, belonging in part 
to the nature of war, which have in some measure attended 
our operations ? What less can you expect, when it is a part 
of the strategy of an enemy constantly to baffle all the ex- 
pectations of his opponent. When he knows you mean to have 
your supplies at this point, and to have a battle here, he will 
take the greatest pains that the battle shall be not where your 
supplies are, but where they are not, and thus all the plans you 
may make to meet the exigencies of the case are upset, by that 
which it is his skill to make the most favorable to himself, and 
most unfavorable to you. And when you understand that to 
these difficulties you are obliged also to superadd the rawness 
of our forces, and the rawness of our officers in the medical de- 
partment, difficulties for which nobody is to blame, but which 
have grown out of the mighty blessings qf a long-continued 
peace ; can you wonder that a Government, the most gene- 
rous in the world, in its efforts to meet the necessities of its 
sick and wounded men, a Government which feels that the 
people demand of it to do the utmost that humanity can 
prompt, to render to the suffering soldier as efficient assist- 
ance as circumstances will permit ; can you wonder that such 
a Government, which has increased its expenses from 500,000 
to 10,000,000 of dollars, for the benefit of the sick and 
wounded soldier, which has reinforced the medical service of 
the country, until every possible man that could be spared 
from medical civil life is now in the army ; which by its 
courts of inquiry, has sifted the medical practice of most of 
its imbeciles and incompetents ; I say, can you wonder that 
such a Government, so generous, so humane, and so laborious, 
as it has been in the cailse of the sick and wounded soldier, 
has yet nevertheless found itself continually baffled, continu- 
ally dependent on the exterior support and sympathy of the 



12 



public ; on having its industry and efforts eked out and sup- 
plemented by the benevolence of the public at large ? 

I knovr there is a constant wonder on the part of the public, 
that this great Government, with all its forethought and with 
all its means, has been compelled to depend so largely and so 
long upon the benevolence of the public. 

Again and again I am asked, how long is this to last? 
Why does the Government not do this thing and that thing? 
The answer is, not that the Government does not know its 
duty, not that it is not anxious to do its duty ; but let the 
Government do all it does or can do, you cannot have 800,000 
men in the iSeld, under the circumstances in which our men 
are in the field, without there being (even after all that public 
and private benevolence combined can do), a large margin of 
want and misery, which can only be partially alleviated, I 
tell you, therefore, on the responsibility of one who under 
the most favorable circumstances has been studying this 
matter for two years, you need not fancy there can be by 
any possibility, any stoppage in the demand upon your sym- 
pathy or support, so long as this war lasts. Every loyal 
woman in this country, every generous merchant, every noble- 
minded physician, every man who loves humanity, every man 
who loves his country and our noble cause, has got to put by 
a certain portion of his time, and a certain portion of his 
money and industry, and a large portion of his heart and 
affections and sensibilities, for the benefit of the sick and 
wounded soldiers. No matter how generous the supplies, no 
matter what amount of money the Government may spend, 
no matter how earnest and active and generous may be the 
labors of the women of the land, there will still remain in 
force that Scriptural maxim, " The poor ye have always with 
you," — the sick and wounded soldier will always be with 



13 



you ; and after all the Government and public and private 
benevolence may do, your hearts will be torn and your 
dreams haunted by the fact that there still remains a large 
and frightful amount of unalleviated disease and.sorrow and 
want. Now, I ask you to discharge from this moment from 
your minds all notions to the contrary of this statement, 
which is vouched for on the authority of a Commission which 
has been now nearly two years studying the question. But 
let me tell you that all that private or social benevolence can 
do for the army in the field is invisibly small, compared with 
that which the Government is able to do, being in possession 
of all the lines of transportation and master of all the facili- 
ties, and compelled to exclude the larger portion of the public 
from the actual scene of war. You have between you and 
the soldiers the military lines which you cannot pass ; the 
soldiers are principally to the front, out of your immediate 
reach, away from your own eyes and beyond the easy reach 
of any comforts you may send them. The great channel 
by which to reach them must be the Government itself; and 
let me tell you, that to sustain the Government you must en- 
courage and support the medical force of the army itself. 
Everything possible should be done to make the medical force 
strong in its efficiency ; not to interfere with the regulations 
adopted by the army surgeons, but in every way to sustain 
and encourage them in the great work committed to their 
charge. This is your only chance of being very useful to 
the soldier, except in particular, irregular, and exceptional 
cases. You must not suppose that because in this loyal city 
of Philadelphia, as your soldiers come and return, and you 
have them under your eye, you can take care of them here, 
that any similar state of affairs exists near the scene of con- 
flict. There, a different state of things arises. The suffering 



14 



of the army is on the field of battle, or in the actual camp or 
general hospital. The general hospital must be for the most 
part solely under the eye and sympathy of the United States 
Army Surgeons. If those who have this business for their 
official duty are not encouraged and sustained, all that you 
can do in irregular ways is as a drop in the bucket. Let me 
say, therefore, and I desire to say it in correction of an error 
which I fear prevails largely, that notwithstanding these 
natural defects which proceed from the want of official train- 
ing, you may place a general reliance in the personal charac- 
ter, in the devotion and the patriotism, and in the medical 
skill of the surgeons in the field. There has been a prevail- 
ing impression that these medical men, to a large extent, 
have been the rifi'-raff' of the profession ; there has been an 
extraordinary notion, that although they have been culled 
out of Christian society, they have been suddenly converted 
as by a moral contagion into barbarians and demons. I sup- 
pose that an ordinary percentage of imbecility and lack of 
moral principle and of ignorance of medical science, prevails in 
the medical profession, in the army and among the "volunteer 
surgeons, as it prevails in every class of society. But, I pre- 
sume to say, that it is an atrocious libel, that as a class, the 
surgeons are not a self-sacrificing, earnest, devoted body of 
men, and I may add, the hardest worked class of men con- 
nected with our army service. After a very general ex- 
perience of them, I think it is high time to say, that the 
country ought to have a general reliance, confidence and 
trust, in the essential worthiness, devotion and admirable 
character of the medical stafi" of the army now in the field. 

Let them, then, be sustained. After a while they will 
learn the rules, regulations, and method. They found at 
first, that the army regulations were a little annoying. 

« 



15 



They went into the field with a prejudice — not unreturned — 
against the regular officers ; but they began to see, after a 
while, that army regulations were very wholesome things, — 
consisting, indeed, of those methods and rules which experi- 
ence has proved to be the shortest road to efficiency. If 
anything is now plain, it is that unless you have method and 
rule, and pretty rigid method and rule, in the army, you can 
have no success. 

And if there be anything that volunteers learn in the 
medical or other service, it is, after a short time, an increas- 
ing respect for army regulations ; a desire to be under 
officers that understand these regulations ; to be under sur- 
geons who are familiar with all those minute rules, that tie 
up in safety and security, for purposes of method, order, and 
success, the conditions under which relief is to be supplied. 
I know nothing more foolish and insane, than that univer- 
sally popular cry against "red tape." Permit me to say, 
that in the army, red tape is as essential to men, as white 
tape at home is to women. [Laughter.] I need not say, that 
it is an equal folly to attempt to do without the one, as to do 
without the other. Instead of decrying " red tape," all my 
experience has taught me to believe that the principal diffi- 
culties connected with the humane administration of army 
affairs, are due to the neglect of "red tape." If you could 
have real "red tape," not that kind painted on barbers' 
poles, which ties up nothing; if you could only have real 
rule, method, and habit carried out to the death even, you 
would have the surest way of attaining to the best results in 
military affairs. And that is a matter that ought to be more 
generally understood among the women and the men in the 
land. 

The women — God bless them! — think that it requires 



16 

nothing but a good and loving heart to aid the poor soldier. 
But I can assure you, that however ardent and -warm the 
heart, its pulsations, to be effective, must be regulated by 
order and method. 

There has been a general sort of cry in the newspapers, 
which has found its way into our homes, against this disci- 
pline of which I speak. When I first went into this business, 
I was under the influence of the same prejudices. I thought 
I must take the sharp knife of criticism, and the sword of 
antagonism, and with them cut loose everything that pre- 
vented me from getting at the sick and wounded soldier. 
But I found it was best, on the whole, instead of doing any- 
thing to weaken the bonds of order, and the regulations 
adopted by long experience in all wars, for the guidance and 
direction of military affairs, to accept the order and method 
established by the Government, and endeavor to work in 
perfect harmony and sympathy with. them. And if the Sani- 
tary Commission has achieved any triumph in this war, it 
has been entirely owing to the fact that it has followed the 
regulations of army life ; that it has endeavored to enter into 
affectionate and friendly relations with the medical body in 
the field ; to do all its work under the sanction of the Govern- 
ment itself; to aid in the proper carrying out of the regula- 
tions of the service; and to respect that honest jealousy of 
all outside interference and supplementary aid, natural to 
men in official position; that wholesome esprit du corps, 
which confesses no weakness or defect, — a generous senti- 
ment, and one which every man ought to have something of, 
in public place. All that has been conquered. The Sani- 
tary Commission, looked upon at first with some want of 
sympathy at Washington, by the War Department, and by 
the generals in the field, — for I have been often compelled 



17 

to listen unwittingly to army men talking of the Sanitary 
Commission as a sentimental body of persons, really only 
to be countenanced because, somehow or other, they had 
managed to get the affections of the people, — is now, I am 
proud to say, and so far as I know, in the most cordial and 
perfect relations of friendship and co-operation with the 
Medical Department of the United States Army, with the 
authorities at Washington, and with all the generals in the 
.field. [Applause,] 

This is due to the good fortune of having, from the start, 
adopted the true method. Therefore, the longer we labor, 
the better the scheme works ; the more harmonious it is ; 
the more entirely it finds itself adapted to do the work which 
it undertook to do. And let me say, that those not enjoying 
these facilities, naturally looked at with a kind of jealousy 
and distance by generals and officers in the field, and by the 
Medical Department itself, must necessarily work under con- 
stant disadvantages, and their sources of usefulness be greatly 
impaired. The earnest efforts of associations of noble men 
and women all over the Union, seeking to do good, have thus 
been weakened. Thank God that they exist! May His 
blessing rest upon them all ! It is a source of wonder, that 
with all the difficulties necessarily attendant upon their 
unsystematized labors, they have been able to do so much; 
that such excellent results have accrued from their labors. 

The work which the Sarytary Commission undertook, is 
one which ought not to excite much jealousy among other 
associations. I will describe it in a few words. 

The work was twofold. It was first to prevent sickness in 
the army. The sympathies of the public are with the sick 
and wounded, but we devoted almost our exclusive energies 
to that in which the public sympathies are not greatly en- 

2 



18 



listed, namely, in eflforts to enlighten the army, — to enlighten 
the quartermaster and the commissary and the soldier in the 
field on the importance of taking every possible means of pre- 
venting a waste of precious life. We knew that a great pro- 
portion of the waste of life in the army was owing to igno- 
rance of the laws of health, and the consequences of those 
particular exposures and dangers that are peculiar to an 
army in the field. How should officers and men become 
acquainted with this matter, unless they had given special 
attention to the subject ? We went to work, therefore, at 
the very start to prevent disease, by sending into the army a 
set of experts, selected from the very best medical talent in 
the country, and paid liberally for their services. For be it 
remembered, that they were taken from remunerative posts 
in private life, taken from families dependent on their care, 
and from spheres of large private practice. We trained them 
to this special duty, and sent them as far as possible into 
every corps of the army, to diffuse a knowledge of camp life, 
to acquaint the men with the proper manner of managing 
everything connected with the peculiar dangers and difficul- 
ties surrounding soldiers in the field. In order to accomplish 
the end desired, this matter had to be made a subject of care- 
ful study. The Sanitary Commission undertook to prepare a 
series of questions, covering every point that can be named 
respecting the interests of the soldier. Three hundred ques- 
tions were prepared, which these^ persons were to carry into 
camp. After obtaining leave of the Major-General, the 
Brigadier-General, and the Colonel of each regiment, they 
went to every officer of the camp, and asked him every possi- 
ble question connected with the welfare of his men. The 
object in asking these questions was in a negative manner to 
convey information, to convey to these people in a manner 



19 

inoiFensive to themselves, everything in regard to camp life 
which it was necessary for them to know. Our inspectors 
went through five hundred and seventy distinct and separate 
regiments, and many of them twice and thrice over, besides 
special inspections, and left with them catalogues and publi- 
cations, to the extent of some hundred thousands, and thus 
was diffused through our whole army much valuable informa- 
tion, which has no doubt in a great measure, made our army, 
in spite of all the diseases that have raged there, the healthiest 
army in effective service the God of battles ever looked down 
upon. I will give you the chapter and the verse. At no time 
since the war began, has the average mortality been more than 
six per cent. Well, now, in the Crimean army, the mortality 
was twenty-three per cent. ; in the army on the Spanish pen- 
insula under "Wellington, the mortality was sixteen and one- 
half per cent. The mortality of our army has been reduced 
by influences which have been exerted, God knows how, we 
trust in some degree through our instrumentality, to six per 
cent, as the general average and rule. Whether this be due 
to the beneficence of. the Government, or to the admirable 
arrangement of the commissariat, to the abundance of clothing 
with which our soldiers have been blessed, to a greater degree 
than any other soldiers in the world, or whether, perhaps, 
it is owing to the versatile and self-protecting character of 
the American people, or to the favorableness of the climate, 
or to the painstaking efforts which have been used by the 
Sanitary Commission, to disseminate widely the most reliable 
information through the whole army, is not for me definitely 
to say ; but by the blessing of God, all these means having 
been used, our army, now near the end of its second year, is 
the healthiest army by far that ever has been in the field. 
In making our inspections, a large mass of statistics has 



20 



been collected, wliicli are now in our archives at Washington, 
throwing light upon questions of great interest, which will go 
far to settle many points which, after the war is over, the 
socialist may raise, or the statesman, in regard to the conduct 
of the war. 

These facts have been acknowledged by scientific men in 
Europe. It has been confessed in the London Times, which 
never speaks any good of us if it can help it, that we have 
achieved in this respect, a work never before undertaken. We 
sent into the army, before there was a single sick man in it, 
a body of men (the United States Sanitary Commission), 
whose duty it was to inquire and advise as to everything 
necessary for the health of the army about to enter the field. 
We did not wait, as other governments wait, until the horse 
had been stolen, before we locked the stable-door. We did 
not appoint a Commission, after a year of ravage, to find 
out how so many lives had been thrown away ; but, with a 
spirit characteristic of American forethought, we selected a 
body of men at the start, before a single life was exposed, to 
suggest the means of preventing any needless waste of 
human life during the war. 

Now, to turn to that which is most important to you, — the 
means of healing our sick and wounded. When this war 
broke out, nobody could have failed to anticipate a magnifi- 
cent uprising of the sympathies of the whole people towards 
the soldiers in the field. We asked ourselves, — What can 
we do to help the Government take care of the sick and 
,wounded men? We foresaw that there would be a rush of 
philanthropic men and women to the hospitals and to the 
field. It occurred to us then, at the outset, that it was 
important to organize the spontaneous beneficence of the 
country; to weave it together, and make it in the end work 



21 



like ■well-regulated machinery, — doing the greatest possible 
good, with the least amount of embarrassment to the authori- 
ties. We proceeded therefore to organize this beneficence, 
that its results might be regularly, economically, wisely, and 
kindly utilized for the good of all. 

While disloyalty and rebellion were tearing the States in 
pieces, and the disintegrating processes of secession were 
going on, we endeavored to concentrate the benevolent senti- 
ments of loyal men. We knew that something must be done 
to unite the whole heart and industry of this people in a 
common work ; to persuade them to lay aside their local and 
municipal pride, — sentiments which, in times of peace, right- 
fully prevail ; but in a time like this, when the national idea 
was growing weak, under the distracting influences which 
unfortunate political events had introduced into the country, 
we thought we might be an humble means, through the asso- 
ciated sympathies and systematized benevolence of all parts 
of the loyal States, in assisting the National Government in 
sewing up the wounds of the country. It was all-important 
to render this Federal idea operative on the beneficence of 
the country, so that we could counteract those secession 
influences which were rending asunder that which God had 
originally joined. 

I confess that almost the only discouragement attendant 
upon our Avork has been some inability on the part of the 
public to enter fully into that lofty idea. We all have our 
municipal pride. We all have a love for our individual 
States ; and to overcome this love to some extent, for the 
time, in favor of a broader affection, was a part of our mis- 
sion. In ordinary times, it is well to trim the lamp of 
domestic affection; to feed the fire of municipal pride; to 
tend the larger altar of State rights. But at a time 



22 



like this, we ought to bring every particle of patriotic 
fuel we can-, to make that central jflame which our fathers 
kindled on the Federal altar, burn brighter, so that the nations 
of the world, who are watching with jealous eyes from every 
headland of Europe to see its glory eclipsed, may find it 
surging up with a double splendor, and shedding an immortal 
radiance upon the whole horizon of humanity. 

!N'ow, in regard to the supplies we have received from the 
country. I will not go into very great length about that 
matter at the present time. We know that in Philadelphia 
you have been doing as much as any city in the country, 
for the sick and wounded soldier. We do not wish you to 
abstract one particle of your industry nor one moment of 
the time which you have given to the soldiers, from those to 
whom you already stand pledged. I am not here to depreciate 
or underrate any service in which you have been thus far so 
nobly engaged. As for me, I know no State soldier ; I know 
no Philadelphia soldier; no Pennsylvania soldier. I know 
only the Federal, Union, National soldier. [Applause.] 

You have more than 200,000 noble Pennsylvania soldiers 
in the field; and I was glad to hear from the lips of your 
Governor, last night, that you have 150,000 more just such, 
ready to take the field, when wanted. 

These soldiers, until they got into the field, were Pennsyl- 
vania soldiers ; and so long as they were in Pennsylvania 
camps, and so long .'as they were near home, they Avere within 
reach of your local associations. You could send your agents 
among them, who could administer to their every want. But 
you should recollect, that after a soldier gets into the gene- 
ral field, he is not a Pennsylvania soldier; he is a National 
soldier. And when he is sick and wounded, he is not under 
the control of Pennsylvania officers, nor is he within reach 



23 

of Pennsylvania nurses. He is not in the Pennsylvania hos- 
pital; he is in the Federal hospital. You do not know where 
he is. Your Governor does not know where he is. The 
colonel of his regiment does not know where he is. 

When the soldier falls, he is taken to the rear, and sent to 
the most convenient hospital. How are the sick and wounded 
of the Pennsylvania regiments to be taken care of? Only 
by an association which claims in some sense to be omnipre- 
sent ; which, with its supplemental supplies, undertakes, — 
according to some proportion of the supplies furnished it by 
the community at large, — to meet the necessities of every 
soldier, no matter whether he comes from Pennsylvania, 
Michigan, Iowa, or any other State in the Union. 

Your agent may be sent into the hospitals, we may say in 
Washington, in search of a Pennsylvania soldier. He comes 
across a soldier in the ward, and inquires, " Are you a Penn- 
sylvania man?" "No, I am not a Pennsylvania man, but I 
am a sick man." ''Well, somebody will take care of you, 
but I want to find a Pennsylvania man." " Well," says the 
poor soldier, " there is a Pennsylvania man over in the 
corner." The agent then addresses him, " Are you a Penn- 
sylvania man?" "Yes." " Well, here are some things I 
have brought you." He takes them, and as the agent is 
about to walk away, the sick hero says, " Here is a good 
friend of mine in this next bed, with whom I have had much 
comforting chat; can't you do something for him?" If the 
agent says No, it is very likely the Pennsylvania man refuses 
to accept the good things that are brought him. The object 
of the Sanitary Commission is to make every soldier feel that 
he has an equal share in the bounty with which this nation 
supplies its soldiers. If you should look into this question 
thoroughly, you would find that while the work in neighbor- 



24 



hoods where soldiers are stationed, may require State asso- 
ciations and private enterprise, there is still a great and 
immense field of Federal and National work, which can only 
be done by a Federal and National association. Therefore, 
without asking you to diminish your sympathies directed 
under the auspices of local associations, I do demand of you, 
not as Pennsylvanians, but as Americans, in the name of the 
Federal soldier, that you appropriate a certain portion of 
your benevolence to a purely National and Federal work. I 
am sure the mere statement of the question is its argument, 
and it is not necessary for me to debate the question a mo- 
ment longer. 

In regard to special relief, let me say that during the past 
month, five or six thousand men from one hospital (Light 
House Point), have been discharged. The Government has 
decided that under law, it cannot take charge of discharged 
soldiers. They accordingly often find themselves without the 
means of transportation. A discharged soldier is in the city 
of Washington, anxious to go to his home, and what does he 
do ? Does he look for his State agent ? If he does, he is 
probably told to go to the Sanitary Commission, and we must 
in the end send him safely to his home. The Commission 
has six or seven lodges in the City of Washington, for the 
purpose of receiving these men. At the Paymaster's office, 
there is a particular lodge to receive the soldier waiting to 
receive his pay. Here we have beds where the soldier can 
remain until he reaches his turn on the pay-roll. For a 
month past, we have had five hundred and fifty men per night 
to take care of, and supplied eighteen hundred meals every day 
to these discharged soldiers. We have made arrangements 
with all the railroad companies to take these men home at 
Government fare. Through the kindness of Mr. Felton, 



25 



President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore 
Railroad, we are now having cars constructed, in which 
stretchers can be hung, so that the wounded soldier lying 
thereon, can be carried safely from Washington to New York, 
without any jarring to his shattered frame. 

I thank you for the very kind attention you have given 
me, and take my leave with the cordial hope and confidence, 
that this community will add to all the other blessed things 
which it has done for the sick and wounded soldier, this other 
thing. I appeal to the noble clergy of this city, and shall 
be glad to have the co-operation of the patriotic women of 
the city of Philadelphia. I would suggest a meeting of the 
clergy at an early day. Let each of them bring one or two 
competent women, in order that the benevolent feeling which 
Jias been manifested at this meeting, may be turned to 
practical account. I know that the women of Philadelphia 
do not mean to be one step behind the women of the other 
cities of the country. You will have the sympathy and en- 
couragement of your Governor, your Mayor, the clergy, and 
the leading citizens, in undertaking this important work. 
We must have our storehouses filled up again and again, and 
I am sure I misread these generous and humane Federal 
countenances, which I see before me, if I am mistaken in an- 
ticipating that henceforth, in the city of Philadelphia, the 
Sanitary Commission will not only have the cordial support 
of its citizens, and the countenance of the clergy, but that 
the nimble fingers of the women of the city will devote a 
certain portion of the day in filling up the indispensable re- 
quirements, caused by the presence of so vast a force in the 
field, subject to all the uncertainties, disappointments, and 
embarrassments of the Government service in a time of ac- 
tive campaigning. 



26 



I cannot close these observations without calling your 
attention for a moment, to the recollection of one whose 
memory is sacredly honored in the Sanitary Commission, and 
will be found inscribed conspicuously on the roll of a nation's 
gratitude, when the records of the war are made up. I refer 
to the late Mr. William Piatt, who may truly be called a 
martyr to his patriotic zeal and earnest humanity. Carried 
beyond his strength, by his passionate devotion to the wants 
of our sick and wounded soldiers, he fell stricken by disease 
contracted on the battle-field, where he went as a minister of 
mercy. No soldier falling by the bullet of the enemy was more 
a victim of patriotic courage and zeal than he. This community 
marked his modest, yet unweariable services, too well to need 
any eulogy upon his work from me. His associates here, 
whose hand he so long was, have testified in every form their- 
respect for his memory, and their sorrow for his untimely 
loss. It is not for a stranger to his person, as I was, to strew 
any fresh flowers upon his recent grave ; but I should do in- 
justice to the Sanitary Commission, if I did not take this 
public occasion to utter, in this, his own city, and among 
these, his own friends, these few feeble words of tribute to so 
faithful a servant of our cause, and so lamented a philan- 
thropist and patriot. Peace to the ashes of William Piatt ! 
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 

After the close of Dr. Bellows's speech, the Rev. John Walker 
Jackson, by invitation of the Committee of Arrangements, addressed 
the audience in words of ardent and most patriotic encouragement, 
which were earnestly applauded. 

The orchestra then played the National Hymn, and the whole 
audience joined in singing the chorus, with the most intense enthu- 
siasm, and the larce assemblage then retired. 



APPENDIX. 



It has been thought advisable to annex certain statistical informa- 
tion to the report of Dr. Bellows's speech, in order that an outline 
of the character of the work of the Commission, and its vast extent, 
may be exhibited by figures. 



I. Supplies. 
From July, 1861, to October, 1862, it has distributed, — 
Articles of clothing, .... 

Other articles, food, stimulants, and various appli- 
ances for the comfort of the soldier, about 



745,091 

100,000 

845,091 



II. Receipts in Money. 
The whole amount received to March 1, 1863, 



$680,837 16 



The following table shows the sources from which this sum was 
derived. 

Total amount of donations received by the Treasurer of the United States 
Sanitary Commission, to March 1, 1863, and the sources from which 
they came. 

New York, $89,046 67 



People of New England, 

Maine, 

New Hampshire, 

Vermont, 

Massachusetts, 

Rhode Island, 

Connecticut, 

New Jersey, 

Pennsylvania,* 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 



6,683 75 

14,324 43 

621 90 

1,890 81 

44,131 57 

7,558 30 

2,588 35 

.2,356 74 

10,716 39 

10 00 

15 00 



* This does not include the whole amount of money received by the Philadel- 
phia Associates. The contributions at the Agency were $56,580, a large portion 
of which was expended by the Associates for supplies under the orders of the 
Central Commission. 



28 



$4,545 83 

2,200 00 

500 00 

500 00 

516 00 

25 00 

449,453 80 

23,005 34 

4,000 00 

4,520 77 

1,325 20 

3,585 00 

439 48 

1,100 00 

2,400 00 

2,776 83 

,837 16 



Washington, D. C, 

Ohio, 

Indiana, . 

Illinois, 

Michigan, 

Minnesota, 

California, 

Oregon, 

Nevada Territory, 

Washington Territory, 

Vancouver's Island, 

Honolulu, 

Canada (Toronto), 

England, 

France (Paris), 

Unknown sources, 



A considerable portion of the above sum of $680,837 16, of 
course, has been expended in the purchase of such supplies as could 
not be provided by the homes of the land, but nearly all the clothing, 
material and workmanship, has been the freewill offering of the 
loyal women of the country. 

III. Inspections of Camps. 

Between July, 1861, and October; 1862, the whole number of 
camp inspections made with a view of ascertaining their sanitary 
condition, by the agents of the Commission, was 1060. These 1060 
inspections represent 570 distinct regiments or bodies of troops. 

The importance of this department, and the admirable results 
which have flowed from its thorough and efficient management, are 
pointed out in the foregoing speech. 

IV. Inspections of General Hospitals, 
This subject has received the earnest attention of the officers of 
the Commission, and they have employed fifteen surgeons of emi- 
nence, who have made a thorough investigation of the condition of 
the hospitals at Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis, Frederick, Cin- 
cinnati, Louisville, Philadelphia, and New York. The vast im- 
provement observable of late in all our military hospitals, is due to 



29 



the intelligent measures adopted by the present able Surgeon-General, 
which were based in no small degree upon the reports of these In- 
spectors of the Commission. 

V. Agents with the Armies in the Field. 

To carry out fully the National idea of the Commission, each army, 
wherever stationed, has been attended by a permanent staff, repre- 
senting the benevolence of the country as distributed through the 
agency of the Commission. 

In each army this staff is composed of a principal inspector, as- 
sisted by an adequate force of relief agents. These gentlemen form 
part of the permanent organization of the army ; the supplies are 
under their control, and the zeal, efficiency, and devotion which charac- 
terize them in the performance of their duties, and the vast benefit 
which has resulted from their systematic and judicious distribution 
of the supplies in cases of emergency, are vouched for by the reports 
of all the officers of the army, medical and military, who have been 
eye-witnesses of their labors. 

Here is General Rosecrans's late order on the subject of the Com- 
mission : 

Headquarters Department of the Cumberland, 

MtTRFREESBORO, February 2, 1863. 

The General commanding presents his warmest acknowledg- 
ments to the friends of the soldiers of this army, whose generous 
sympathy with the suffering of the sick and wounded has induced 
them to send for their comfort numerous sanitary supplies, which 
are continually arriving by the hands of individuals and charitable 
Societies. While he highly appreciates and does not undervalue 
the charities which have been lavished on this army, experience 
has demonstrated the importance of system and impartiality, as well 
as judgment and economy, in the forwarding and distribution of 
these supplies. In all these respects the United States Sanitary 
Commission stands unrivalled. Its organization, experience, and 
large facilities for the work are such that the General does not hesi- 
tate to recommend, in the most urgent manner, all those who desire 
to send sanitary supplies to confide them to the care of this Com- 
mission. 

They will thus insure the supplies reaching their destination with- 
out wastage, or expense of agents or transportation, and their being 
distributed in a judicious manner without disorder or interference 
with the regulations and usages of the service. 



30 

This Commission acts in full concert with the Medical Department 
of the army, and enjoys its confidence. It is thus enabled, with a 
few agents, to do a large amount of good at the proper time, and in 
the proper way. Since the battle of Stone's Kiver, it has distributed 
a surprisingly large amount of clothing, lint, bandages, and bedding, 
as well as milk, concentrated beef, fruit, and other sanitary stores, 
essential to the recovery of the sick and wounded. 

W. S. ROSECRANS, 
Major-G-eneral Commanding Department. 

Among the many testimonials to the value of the system adopted 
by the Commission in carrying out its work in the army, we select 
that of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. 

This highly respectable body, representing a numerous and most 
influential denomination of Christians in all parts of the North and 
West, adopted, at its meeting in Cincinnati in May last, the following 
resolution : 

Resolved, That the j.\ssembly earnestly recommend to all our Pres- 
byteries and Churches, the United States Sanitary Commission as 
the very best channel through which to reach the sick and wounded 
of the army. It is thoroughly organized, possessed of all needful 
facts, and is now acting with that system and economy which only 
an enlarged experience can secure. 

VI. Special Relief at Washington. 
This department may be divided into the following branches : 

1. The Hospital Directory, or complete list of the inmates of the 
military hospitals in the Washington District. By means of this 
directory the actual position and condition of any sick or wounded 
soldier may be readily ascertained. Arrangements are being per- 
fected to introduce this directory system at all points. East and West, 
where there are large hospitals. The advertisement of the Directory 
Department will be found on the third and fourth pages of cover. 

2. The Soldier's Home at Washington, intended for the relief of 
those soldiers passing through that city, who become separated from 
their regiments, but who are not ill enough to go into the hospital. 
A night's lodging and a few meals have refreshed and cheered more 
than eight thousand five hundred soldiers at this Home. 

3. Help of various kinds to discharged Soldiers. In his weakened 
state the discharged soldier is little able to go through the formali- 



31 

ties and delays incident to getting his pay, and he is liable to be im- 
posed upon by sharpers, who seek to appropriate to themselves 
the larger portion of his hard-earned pittance. With the cordial 
concurrence of the oflScers of the Government, lodges have been es- 
tablished by the Commission, near the Pay Office, where the feeble 
soldier may rest while waiting his turn, and he there receives such 
advice and assistance as may enable him to procure the pay due him 
with the least possible delay. 

4. An Aijcncyfor the collection of any Bounty, Pension or Back 
Fay due the Soldier. The importance of this department of relief is 
obvious, and it is increasing every day. Claims of this kind should 
be in the hands of prompt, efficient, and above all, honest a"-ents. 
The Commission undertakes this as one of its special works of mercy, 
and there is none of greater practical value. 

5. The Through-ticket System. Arrangements have been made 
by the Commission, by which tickets on all the principal railroads, 
are sold to the soldier at a reduced price, conveying him from his 
point of departure to the point nearest his home. This enables him 
to reach home speedily, and without the necessity of exhibiting his 
money at the various stations, and is thus a means of guarding him 
against temptation or robbery on the road. 

Hospital Cars, properly fitted up, have been placed by the Com- 
mission on some of the roads, by which the wounded soldier is con- 
veyed to distant hospitals with a proper regard to his comfort and 
the dictates of humanity. 

The Philadelphia Agency of the United States Sanitary 
Commission. 

This Agency has been recently reorganized, with a view of ren- 
dering^jt more efficient. The Supply Department has been trans- 
ferred to an Association, called "The Women's Pennsylvania 
Branch of United States Sanitary Commission." This Association 
proposes to establish auxiliary societies in the various churches of 
the city, and in the towns in Eastern Pennsylvania and in New 
Jersey, who shall send to them their contributions of clothing and 
other necessaries for distribution by the Commission. The plan is 
fully laid down in the following extract from a letter from Dr. 
Bellows : 

" Whatever you may hitherto have been doing, from this time con- 



32 

sider liow you can best and most surely reach the suflFering soldier, 
where he is most exposed and most forgotten. Organize a circle in 
your church, your village, your toWn. Draw in as many loyal women 
as you can. Make up weekly a small (or a large) bundle or box, 
and forward it to the Philadelphia Women's Auxiliary of the Sani- 
tary Commission, 1307 Chestnut Street, where it will speedily find 
its way to Washington or to Louisville, and be distributed, in the 
shortest possible time, to those who need it most. Do not delay, and 
do not abandon your efforts after a short time. You must enlist in 
the work for the war. It is the women's part in the patriotic strug- 
gle we are in. As long as the men fight, the women must knit and 
sew, and the friends at home furnish means to alleviate the sorrows 
and wants of the camps and hospitals." 

Letters or boxes intended for the Association should be addressed 
to Mrs. Bloomfield H. Moore, Corresponding Secretary, No. 1307 
Chestnut Street. 

The business of the Philadelphia Agency will hereafter be trans- 
acted in the same building. No. 1307 Chestnut Street (up stairs). 
Among other things it will have in special charge, — 

1. The Hospital Directory, containing the names of the sick and 
wounded soldiers in all the military hospitals of this District. The 
list is corrected daily, and information in regard to any soldier will 
be furnished on application to the Superintendent. 

2. Special Relief to discharged soldiers. This will be afforded by 
this Agency under the same conditions as it is dispensed in Wash- 
ington. 

3. It is in contemplation to establish here, under the auspices of 
the Commission, an Agency for the collection of the dues of the 
soldier, such as exists in Washington. The arrangements for that 
purpose are as yet incomplete. 

All letters upon the general business of the Commission here, or 
of its Philadelphia Associates, should be addressed to Horace Binney, 
Jr., Esq., Chairman of the Executive Committee, No. 227 South 
Sixth Street. Letters upon the special departments of the Agency 
should be addressed to R. M. Lewis, Esq., General Superintendent, 
No. 1307 Chestnut Street. 

Remittances to the treasury of the Philadelphia Associates, should 
be made to Caleb Cope, Esq., Treasurer, northeast corner of Sixth 
and Minor Streets, Philadelphia. 



To all who have Friends in the Army. 

Soldiers' Aid Societies, clergymen, editors and others, are respectfully re- 
quested to aid in disseminating the following notice, which is of interest to all 
who have friends in the Army : 

DIRECTORY OF THE HOSPITALS. 

The Sanitary Commission have made arrangements for supplying information^ 
gratuitously, with regard to patients in the United States General Hospitals, at 
the following points (others will be added) : 

Eastkrx Departments. — For information, address " Office Sanitary Com- 
mission, W ashingtony 

Washington, D. C. Cumberland, Md. 

Georgetown, D. C. Point Lookout, Md. 

Alexandria, Va. Frederick City, Md. 

Baltimore, Md. Fairfax, Vn. 

Annapolis, Md. Acquia Creek, Va. 

Annapolis Junction, Md. York, Penna. 

Philadelphia Department. — For information, address " Offi.ce Sanitary 
Cominissio7i, No. 1.307 Ctiestnut Street." 

Philadelphia, Pa. Chestnut Hill, Pa. 

Chester, Pa. Reading, Pa. 

Germantown, Pa. Harrisburg, Pa. 

New York Department. — For information, address " Office Women's 
Ce7Ural Union, No. 10 Cooper Institute." 

New York. N. Y. Portsmouth Grove, R. I. 

Albany, N. Y. Boston, Mass. 

Newark, N. J. Burlington, Vt. 

New Haven, Conn. Brattleboro', Vt. 

Western Departments. — For information, address " Office Sanitary Cpm-_ 
mission, Loui.iviile, Ky." 

Columbus, 0. Louisville, Ky. 

Clevel.and, 0. Covington, Ky. 

Camp Dennison, 0. Lexington, Ky. 

Gallipolis, 0. Danville, Ky. 

Cincinnati, 0. Perryville, Ky. 

Quiney, III. Bowling Green, Ky. 

Cairo, III. Memphis, Tenn. 

Mound City, 111. Clarksvilie, Tenn. 

Jeffersonville, Ind. Jackson, Tenn. 

Evansville, Ind. Murfreesboro', Tenn. 

New Albany, Ind. La'Grange, Tenn. 

Saint Louis, Missouri. Gallatin. Tenn. 

Ironton, Missouri. Nashville, Tenn. 

Rolla, Missouri. Vicksburg, Miss. 

Springfield, Missouri. Corinth, Miss. 

Keokuk, Iowa. Helena, Ark. 

Davenport, Iowa. Grafton, Va. 

Paducah, Ky. Point Pleasant, Va. 

Bardstown, Ky. Parkersburg, Va. 

Lebanon, Ky. Clarksburg, Va. 

Columbus, Ky. Charlestown, Va. 

Columbia, Ky. 
Information will, under ordinary circumstances, be given to any one applying 
for it, in answer to any or all of the following inquiries. If the application is by 
letter, the answer will be sent by return of mail ; if in person, it will be an- 
swered at once. 

1. Is [giving name and regiment, and state where and when last heard 

of:] at present in the hospitals of — '■ ? 

2. If so, what is his proper address? 

3. What is the name of the surgeon or chaplain of the hospital ? 

4. If not in hospital at present, has he recently been in hospital? 



fi. If 80, dill he die in hospital, and at what date ? 

(>. If recently discharged from hospital, was he discharged from service? 

7. It" not, what were his orders on leaving ? 

More specific information, as to the condition of any patient in the District of 
60'uinViia hospitals, will be furnished within twenty-four hours after a request to' 
do so is received at the Washington OflSce. 

The Office of the Directory will be open daily from 8 o'clock, A. M.. to 8 
o'clock, p. M., and in urgent cases applicants ringing the door bell will be re- 
ceived at any hour of the night. 

•'■ Much inconvenience in conducting the business of the Directory baring arisen^ 
whare visitors have been given direct access to the record books themselves, this 
prfiuiiua will hereafter be discontinued; nor can lists of wounded in hospitals, by 
StHte.s, counties, regiments, or otherwise, be hereafter furnished from these, 
records. 

The Sanitary Commission, upder special authority from the President of the 
United States, maintains an extensive system of agencies for securing the safe 
conveyance to and distribution of goods put in its charge for the sick and 
wounded at points where they are most wanted. It operates with equal care and 
geiiero.-ity at all points, — at New Orleans and at Washington, before Vicksburg 
and at Nash\ille ; its distributions being governed by a comparison of the wants 
df the patients in all cases. To ascertain the relative character of these wants^ 
in a trustworthy manner, and to secure an equitable distribution and honest use' 
of the goods distributed, besides the unpaid services of the members of the Com- 
mission, twenty physicians of high professional and moral chuiacter, and more 
than fi.ty lny-agents, are employed, under pecuniary securities for responsible and 
efficient service. The cost of these arrangements has thus far been about 3 per 
centum of the value of the goods distributed. Tae Commission has not been able 
to obtait4 nuihentic evidence of losses, njiscarriage, or misappropriations, to the 
value of one dollar in ten thousand, of goods, which have been once received at 
its shipping depots. Ths following are the namas of these depots, to which 
auxiliary societies, and all disposed to aid the sick and wounded, without refer- 
ence to States or localities, but simply to their relative necessity for assistance, 
Bfe invited to send their offerings: 



n. 



Sanitary Commission, 

eachnsietts. 

Sanitary Commission, 
Sanitary Commission, 

Pennsylvania. 

Sanitary Commission, 
Smitary Commission, 
Sanitary Commission, 
Sanitary Commission, 



Branch Supply Office, 22 Summer Street, Boston, Mas- 
Branch Supply Office, 10 Third Avenue, Ne^ York. 
Branch Supply Office, 1307 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 

Branch Supplj' Office, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Branch Supply Offioe, Bank Street, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Branch Supply Office, Chicago, Illinois. 

Branieh Supply Office, Louisville, Kentucky. 

The Commission receives no pecuniary aid whatever from the Government, 
and is wholly dependent on the voluntary contributions of the public for tho 
means of sustaining its operations. Contributions to its Treasury are solicited, 
and may be transmitted to George T. Strong, Esq., Treasurer, 68 Wall Street, 
New York. 

The names of the following gentlemen, commissioners of the President of the 
United States, are pledged to the public for the economy, integrity, and efficiency 
with which, whatever is intrusted to the Sanitary Commission, will be admin- 
istered : 



H. W. Bellows, D.D. 

A. D. Bache, LL.D. 

G. W. Cullum, U. S. A. 

A. E. Shiras, U. S. A. 

R. C. Wood, M.D., U. S. A. 

W. H. Van Buren, M.D. 

Wolcott Gibbs, M.D. 

S. G. Howe, M.D. 

0. R. Agnew, M.D. 

Elisha Harris, M.D. 

J. S. Newberry, 



CsNTRAL Office of the Sanitary Commi 



George T. Strong, Esq. 
Horace Binney, Jr., Esq. 
Rt. Rev. T. M. Clark, D.D. 
Hon. Joseph Holt. 
Hon. R. W. Burnett. . 
Hon. Mark Skinner. 
Rev. John H. Heywood. 
Prof. Fairman Rogers. 
Hon. Schuyler Colfax. 
Fredfi X^ Olmsted, Esq. 



244 F Street, Washington, February 7^ 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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013 744 391 



